Discovering Your Authentic Self: A Guide to Wholeness

In today's world, most people are extremely conscious of who they are, where they came from and what they could or should become. The concept of becoming whole refers to knowing yourself from the perspective of mind, body and soul. It is a self-awareness that focuses attention on your personality and reactive behavior in life. Not knowing who you are makes it difficult to become fully engaged in social or personal relationships.

Instructions

• 1

  Write down all of your personality traits. For instance, compassionate could describe a person who reaches out to others in need. Detail-oriented means a person acknowledges details about others, situations and tasks. Punctual is a description for someone who is always on time. The list should include at least five positive traits and five negative traits.

• 2

  Write down situations in your life where your personality traits have been exposed, and reflect on how you respond to your behavior. For example, if one of your negative traits is impatience, and you lost your temper with a grocery store clerk who was moving too slowly, did that behavior make you feel good about yourself? This exercise could take some time, but the key is to be honest with yourself.

• 3

  Examine your personality traits and their impact on your behavior, and ask yourself if that is whom you want to be. It also would be helpful to discuss these findings with someone who has known you a long time or even a counselor. The key to becoming a whole person is to recognize who you have been, who you are today and who you want to become. If certain traits bring out negative feelings and emotions, then make strides to identify situations each day that test those traits, and make a conscious effort to change.